Thursday night brought a new negotiating ploy, er development, in the NFL in LA drama that Chargers fans (and this Patriots fan) are following so closely. The rest of the week brought lesser news and a lot of guesswork as the relocation of a professional hockey team prompted some media types to revisit the moveability of football franchises.

First up, Farmers Field. The latest dispatch from The Los Angeles Times' Sam Farmer announced: "AEG's Tim Leiweke, spearheading an effort to build an NFL stadium next to Staples Center, said Thursday the project could be scuttled if the city doesn't sign off on the framework of a deal by July 31." Read the rest of the story here.

For perspective, Farmer's story says:

It is unclear whether the date is a hard deadline or part of a negotiating tactic. Leiweke in the past was willing to walk away from an NFL stadium project. In 2002 AEG took off the table a proposal for an NFL stadium near Staples Center when met with resistance from the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission. This time, however, AEG is more invested in the project in large part because of its proximity to L.A. Live and a tower full of unsold condominiums.

Leiweke said reaching a deal with the city will be more difficult than striking an agreement with the NFL or a team looking to relocate.

That's interesting because this Associated Press story in the wake of the Atlanta Thrashers' relocation to Winnipeg -- Can I get one of these? -- puts a figure on what an NFL relocation could cost the team that does it. No surprise here: It ain't cheap.

The story says: "NFL owners got a cool $700 million just for letting the Houston Texans join their club, a figure sure to be dwarfed if the league expands to Los Angeles."

Elsewhere, the Winnipeg news fueled speculation on this USA Today blog about which team would be next to play the relocation game. With more than 1,200 votes cast through Friday, the Jacksonville Jaguars had 12 percent of the vote and the Buffalo Bills had 7 percent. They were the only football teams listed in the poll.

About the Bills, the Wall Street Journal recently reported here that a Los Angeles bond investor was interested in buying the team. The obvious questions became: Did Bills owner Ralph Wilson reconsider a refusal to sell? (No.) And might a sale mean a move to L.A.? (No.)

The investor, Jeffrey Gundlach, whose exact quote was that he "is thinking about thinking" about buying the team, wasted little time saying he'd keep it in Buffalo. Read more here.

Locally, voiceofsandiego.org's Liam Dillon got criticism and kudos for this story headlined "NFL Lockout Would Actually Save City Money" and the San Diego Reader's Matt Potter wrote this about free parking passes at Qualcomm Stadium. Who gets most of them? City employees and the media.

Meanwhile, in Minnesota, Vikings owner Zygi Wilf is engaged in negotiating tactics of his own in an effort to get a new stadium. "Time is of the essence," he told the Pioneer Press here.

Beyond that, there were ubiquitous lockout updates such as this one, nostalgia about the Chargers uniforms here and team-related spelling bee jokes here.

That's all, folks.

As always, let me know what you think and what I missed. And Go Bruins!